I’m Not Sexy and I Know It by Vic Winter

Blurb:
Winston knows he isn’t sexy. He isn’t a stud, classically handsome, and he doesn’t have rhythm. A night on the dance floor with a stranger proves otherwise, though. Can best friend Clark convince Winston that he’s all the sexy a man could hope to be, off the dance floor as well as on it?

Review:
This cute little short hit on one of my favourite themes: that of the insecure guy with low self esteem. Winston is typical of these sort of characters. He’s carrying a little extra weight around the tummy and thinks he looks an idiot when he dances. He goes to clubs to watch the dancing and have a couple of drinks, but one particular evening a strange guy comes up behind him and encourages Winston to move with him. Suddenly Winston lets go of all the self consciousness and has a wonderful time dancing with the stranger. His friends all think its amusing that he never even saw the guy who made him feel so good about himself, except for his best friend Clark who is pleased to see how happy Winston is.

There’s not too much to the story but what there was was sweetly written with a humourous undertone which made me smile a great deal. I especially liked the sly digs at the sort of music played in gay clubs and chortled along to Winston copying the dance moves which seem like a raunchy version of the sort of thing I used to dance to at school discos :). The story is gentle in tone with Winston discovering a little self confidence in his looks and I really liked the way he blossoms into being into a good mood after his night of dancing. I also liked the gradual way he begins to appreciate himself a little more with Clark’s help.

Clark is a little shadowy and although he seems a likable guy we don’t ever find out much about him. That was Ok for me as the purpose of the story was the focus on Winston. My sympathies were with Winston the whole way and went a long way in my enjoyment of this book.

If you fancy a quickie then you could do worse than this book. I liked it.